True Crime

by Jessiew

In the mountains of Alder County, rookie deputy Caleb “Cal” Mercer begins his career with a call he will never forget: a pickup truck down an embankment, a frightened little girl, and a mother he cannot save. Before his first shift is over, Cal learns that wearing a badge means carrying the weight of outcomes he cannot always control. Under the guidance of veteran Sergeant Warren Harlan, Cal begins to understand what the academy could never fully teach him. Through dangerous calls, difficult investigations, storms, searches, and quiet acts of kindness, he discovers that serving a community demands patience and compassion alongside courage. As the years pass, both Cal and the county around him change. The friendships forged on duty help sustain him, while the memories of those he encounters follow him home to his wife, Anna. Every shift adds another lesson about responsibility, human frailty, and the limits of what one person can put right. Drawing inspiration from author Jessie Woody’s law enforcement experience, *The Long Watch* follows a rural deputy’s journey from uncertainty toward a deeper understanding of service. It is a story of loyalty, sacrifice, and the people who keep answering the call—even when the hardest part begins after the emergency ends.

by Christoph Woods

*He wears the mask. She wears the badge.* Rookie detective Marcene "McGee" Summers didn't ask for the case nobody wanted — but it's hers now. A killer in a Guy Fawkes mask is staging clean, ritual murders across the city, and every victim has one thing in common: they hurt people the system couldn't touch. Abusers who walked. Predators who paid their way out. Every crime scene is a verdict, and the city is starting to read them like headlines. They call him Fauwks. He calls her... Marcene. As the body count climbs, McGee finds herself hunting a ghost who seems to know her better than she knows herself — a killer who anticipates her every move, who leaves her messages only she would understand. And all the while, she's falling for Thomas: charming, attentive, always there in all the right places at all the right times. The closer she gets to the mask, the thinner the line becomes — between hunter and hunted, between justice and vengeance, between the badge she swore to wear and the truth she's afraid to face. A thriller about the hunt, the mask, and the detective who got too close.

by J.J. Johnson

The Blood of My Blood Series is a three-tiered botanical Gothic memoir tracing generations of an inheritance blanketed in shadows filled with sorrow across shifting prairies and vast peaks. Between blood-soaked Oklahoman clay and the golden fields of Nebraska, come with me to unlock my mother's green trunk—examining the fragments of my family's trauma and secrecy, while discovering the maternal sacrifice that flows through my bloodline like silent, deadly currents.

by Sammie Settlemire

"I Can't Make This Up" is a humorous and heartfelt memoir about one woman's ongoing battle with bureaucracy, bad luck, and baffling human behavior. Through a series of unbelievable but true experiences, she recounts everything from scam emails and vehicle registration nightmares to canceled medications, a traffic stop involving "weed" that wasn't weed, and the loss of a cherished home. Along the way she reflects on modern society, common sense, education, family, disability, and the resilience required to keep moving forward when life seems determined to pile one absurd challenge after another in your path. Equal parts comedy, frustration, and perseverance, this collection of stories proves that sometimes the only way to survive life's chaos is to laugh at it. Back Cover Blurb If someone told you this stuff happened in a novel, you'd say it was too ridiculous to be believable. A vehicle registration renewal becomes a bureaucratic obstacle course. A WiFi adapter is mistaken for drug paraphernalia. Medications disappear without warning. Scam artists promise millions. A beloved fifth wheel home vanishes from reach. And somehow, through it all, there's still room for family, stubborn determination, and the occasional glimmer of hope. With sharp humor, unapologetic honesty, and plenty of "you've got to be kidding me" moments, I Can't Make This Up is a memoir about surviving disability, bureaucracy, bad decisions, and the endless parade of absurdities that make up everyday life. Because sometimes reality is stranger than fiction. And sometimes a whole lot funnier.

by FadedAura

Audrey Lowe has never dreamed of falling in love with anyone until she met the love of her life. Shawn Cunning’s but when Shawn goes missing it is up to Audrey to find out what happened to him. Nothing will stop her from uncovering the secrets about the man she loves…

by Sammie Settlemire

How To Be White For Dummies A completely unofficial, wildly unnecessary field guide to suburban white culture. Have you ever wondered why otherwise rational adults become emotionally invested in grass? Why Costco feels like a religious experience? Why people spend entire weekends putting up seasonal decorations only to spend another weekend taking them down? Or why being asked to "bring a dish" can trigger a full-scale existential crisis? In How To Be White For Dummies, author Sammie Settlemire takes readers on a hilarious tour through the customs, rituals, and contradictions of suburban American life. From HOA enforcement squads and lawn maintenance warfare to pumpkin spice season, garage clutter, small talk etiquette, and the mysterious power of the fitted sheet, nothing escapes observation. Writing from the unique perspective of life in a fifth-wheel RV and trailer park communities, Settlemire contrasts suburban culture with a world where survival, resourcefulness, and community often matter more than appearances. The result is a funny, affectionate, and sometimes painfully accurate look at the ways people try to create order in a world that stubbornly remains chaotic. Perfect for fans of observational humor, social satire, David Sedaris-style storytelling, and anyone who has ever: •Argued about trash cans •Purchased something unnecessary at Costco •Pretended to care about grass •Folded a fitted sheet and lost the battle •Smiled through an awkward conversation about the weather No membership card required. Readerful Tags / Keywords •Humor •Satire •Cultural Humor •Suburban Life •HOA •Costco •RV Living •Trailer Park Life •Social Commentary •Comedy Essays •American Culture •Observational Humor •Lifestyle Humor •Small-Town America •Memoir Humor •Funny Nonfiction •Community Life •Modern Life •Lighthearted Satire •Everyday Absurdity Genre Primary Genre: Humor Secondary Genres: •Satire •Social Commentary •Humor Essays •Cultural Observations •Memoir Humor

by Jeremy NoFucks Ryan

Hospital monitors beep steadily as federal agents whisper outside the door, waiting for Jeremy Ryan to flatline. But before the silence claims him, his entire defiant existence surges back into focus.   Born into severe rural neglect and subjected to horrific medical abuse under Munchausen by proxy, Jeremy refused to be caged. Breaking free from small-town Wisconsin's psychiatric wards, he fled south into the mid-2000s criminal underworld of Detroit's notorious Cass Corridor. Adopting the street handle Fuzzbuster, Jeremy moved weight, outmaneuvered rival operators, and found a fierce, grounded love in Dominique.   Even as an aggressive cancer diagnosis and punishing radiation threatened his body, Jeremy refused to yield to weakness or fear. But survival in Detroit demands blood. When a fatal neighborhood ambush tears his world apart, claiming Dominique and their unborn child, Jeremy is catapulted into agonizing grief, exile, and a profound psychedelic rebirth.   Origins of a Demon is an unfiltered, heart-pounding journey through institutional violence, organized crime, and relentless personal resilience. Discover what happens when a corrupt system tries to break a man—and creates a demon instead.

by Sammie Settlemire

Welcome to the end times. Not the biblical ones — those would be easier. I’m talking about the kind of apocalypse where a man wearing a foil hat shaped like a swan tries to sell you a broken vape and a conspiracy theory at three a.m behind a Dollar General. Why would you even have been behind there to see them at three a.m?     This is not a drill my friends. This is not a simulation where you wear those simulation glasses and can be stopped at anytime. This is not even the worst Tuesday I have personally have had. Let me tell ya I've had some bad ones too.   This is the Tweaker Apocalypse, and if you’re reading this, congratulations — you’ve survived long enough to need a field manual.

by E. Briley

The trilogy begins in Nashville, where **Emma Hayes** is drawn into a mystery that initially appears to be about the music industry but gradually exposes something much older and more dangerous. What begins as an investigation into a suspicious death becomes a story about missing people, buried secrets, corrupted power, and the lengths people will go to keep the past from being heard. At the center of it all is **Hollow Sound**, a decades-old thread running through Nashville's music world—a history of people whose stories were erased, altered, or deliberately forgotten. Emma's investigation brings her into the orbit of **Spencer Morgan**, a detective whose professional instincts repeatedly put him at odds with Emma's determination to follow a story wherever it leads. Their relationship develops gradually through the investigation, built first on mutual respect and eventually on something much deeper. They also meet **Sadie Brooks**, a young woman with ambitions of becoming an investigative journalist. Sadie initially enters the story because of her connection to the case, but the investigation becomes deeply personal. By the end of the trilogy, she has lost people she loves—including **Lila and her father**—and the experience permanently changes the direction of her life. And then there is **Wade Mercer**. Wade is older, more experienced, and considerably less interested in explaining himself than anyone else in the group. He isn't the team's detective or journalist, but his knowledge of Nashville, its people, and its history repeatedly becomes important. Over the course of the trilogy, Wade becomes part of the group's emotional foundation. What begins as four people connected by circumstance eventually becomes something much more important: **a family built in the aftermath of terrible things.**

by Sammie Settlemire

Sammie didn’t expect to watch her own death from above her body. But when her heart stopped, reality split open. In the chaos of an operating room, she became both witness and patient — hovering outside her own shell while surgeons fought to pull her back from the edge.She saw everything: the wires, the screens, the frantic hands working inside her. She heard the words no living person should ever hear spoken about themselves — time of death. And she felt the terrifying truth of being conscious, aware, and unable to make anyone understand she was still there.This is not fiction. This is not embellished. This is a true story based on real events — the moment Sammie slipped out of her body and into the space between life and whatever waits beyond it.As she drifted through darkness, tunnel vision, and the suffocating weight of her final breath, she discovered a clarity that only comes when everything is stripped away. And when she fought her way back into her body, she carried with her the knowledge that every second matters — because once it’s gone, it never returns.Between Breath and Darkness is the raw, unfiltered opening to Sammie’s memoir: a visceral descent into near‑death awareness, dissociation, and the fragile boundary between existence and oblivion. It is a story of survival told by the only person who lived it.

by Laueriano Alvarado

Alexander Knight, known to his family and close associates as Ak was devastated after the unexpected death of his father Big K. After his father's death he would inherit a Multi County Drug distribution ring ,that drew in hundreds of thousands of dollars weekly.Hoeever, the nheritance would come with alot more then he had bargain for.The Federal Government (by way of the United States Attorneys Office) would reinact an investigation on Ak, that had went cold after Big Ks death. Ak's cousin would find himself in a brush with the law where he would cooperate against Ak for a lighter sentence after being busted in his own drig related offences.Indicted by the feds Ak would eventually be sentenced to Ten years incarceration.While inside he would question his direction of his life .He would be released early for satisfactory behavior and be transported to a federal work release center .It was here where he would meet Anastasia the young daughter of one of Columbia's Cartel families.He would become a favorite of the Jefe and be place in a position that he never thought he would obtain at the street level.Unbeknowest to him that on the spiritual realm there was a show down between God Almighty and the Enemy.Satan understood Ak"s pattern of thinking and would continue to use the root of all evil to Rob Ak of his most important asset.His soul .Would be fall in Satan's trap or would he become one of the very few who finds Redemption?

by Laueriano Alvarado

Dantonio Santiago known to family and friends as Santi was sent to Cocoa Florida to live with his mother's brother Ruben after his father was murdered in a senseless act of violence.For his safety his mother Delourdes made the final decision Her brother a decorated war veteran for the United States Military was a model citizen Well far as Delourdes had known. what she didn't know that all the nice cars a luxury condos that her brother had owned in Florida wasn't bought with a military pension It was purchased from blood blood money. Reban was deeply connected with the Mexicans Sinolia Cartel .One of the most powerful cartel's in Mexico once gathered by the notorious El Chapo.Santi would find out soon enough about his uncle's dealings and would be coached against it However when his uncle sent tsht Santi had his own will power he decided that if his nephew was going to be in it he needed to know the rules .So Urban taught him Mean time I. Puerto Rico the powers that had dealings in the demise of his father were still searching .But for the off spring.Unbeknowest to them Santi was being trained by an ex specialist force soldier.And being taight hkw to apply real life ear tactic to the city street's.Ekilf Danti galk victim to the hunger of the street thst never gets full or would he overcome his adversaries and get to the bottom of eho eas responsible for his father death.  The Hunger Of The Streets is an grutty unban novel .It counsels the loyalty of the Game and slots out the wraaklings who are not strong enough to stand up against it's dying appetite.Come with Laueriano Veluchi on a ride in the first book of a trilogy .His style of story telling will definitely keep you turning pages well into the wee hours of the night ..

by Sammie Settlemire

After dying, waking, and dying again, Sammie watches her own body from above as doctors call her time of death and prepare to let her go. What follows is a chaotic, brutally honest journey through survival, brain damage, disability, humor, trauma, and the stubborn refusal to stay gone. From waking up with tubes down her throat to navigating life in a beat‑up RV with a misunderstood XL bully service dog, Sammie fights her way back into a world that keeps trying to erase her. This memoir is a raw, unfiltered account of the moments between life and death — and the messy, ridiculous, painful, beautiful fight to keep living once you return.

by Melissa Rovelli

When an attempted kidnapping victim refuses to press charges, a little digging reveals that she had been kidnapped once before as a child. In his wildest dreams, FBI Supervisory Special Agent Scott Page never thought that he'd come across a modern case involving The Finders Cult. Somewhere entangled in conspiracy theories, rabbit holes and alleged cover-ups lies the murky truth, and the mysterious Ninon Gage isn't talking. Is she a hypnotic courier, a sleeper agent, or a woman with false memory syndrome? He'd be inclined to believe the latter, but the CIA and Military Intelligence appear to have a vested interest in her case. The closer he gets to answers, the more dangerous The Finder's game becomes. No one seems to know or care what the rules are, and no one seems to remember much about the truth. And there might be a reason for that.

by Author DeeAnn Gorman

**John Zook held out on a ransom note asking for a large amount of money to get his stolen sheep back. He decided to hold out and wait. They would survey the place on the farm. Then decide along with the FBI. Then suitable precautions taken to eliminate pros and cons of the situation at hand.**   **Suddenly the Blizzard predicted hit full blown snow storm. Under the circumstances those thieves may not get very far. The FBI told them all at another meeting.**   **The crime of this nature not seen very often thankfully. Those of them involved felt the crunch of theft especially when insurance money not giving back full value of the stolen property. Hard times struck our town. Especially around the Holiday Thanksgiving and then Christmas.**   **Would the band of thieves be captured and prosecuted? How long must be taken to the cleaners before it is stopped and prosecutted. Tears shed from the ladies' sewing circle when a gut share of their quilts stolen in the middle of the night.**   **Reward towards the return of the stolen quilts returned in near new shape.**   **For some of them Christmas Gifts.**

by K.D. Page

by JD Berryhill

This story is a true story though the names have been changed. A real eye-opener for anyone who has thought that the system in place is meant to help, protect or rehabilitate. And, that more times than not good people who have just simply been through hell, get placed into a system where their back story is never taken into consideration and they lose their humanity and become just another number. One that is guilty until proven innocent. A broken system that often leaves individuals worse than they found them.

by Gina Murdock

Jake Miller is living the best morning of his life. Pancakes, laughter, his wife's hand in his, his daughter buckled safely in the back seat. He has no idea it's about to become the worst.  When tragedy strikes on an ordinary Wednesday, Jake wakes up the next morning to find it's the same Wednesday again — 6:12 a.m., the same golden light, the same choices waiting to be made differently. He's the only one who remembers. And no matter what he changes, the day seems determined to take something from him before it lets him go.  The truth, when it finally surfaces, is worse than anything supernatural: someone built this. Someone patient, brilliant, and devastated — a woman whose life's work Jake's own hands helped destroy, and whose grief has spent years hardening into something with a plan.  As the walls close in — a stranger's car parked down the street, a note left in the dark, a friend who pays a price for helping — Jake has to face not just what's coming for his family, but what he's already done to deserve it.  Some debts don't get canceled. They just wait for the right Wednesday.

by Sean Runyon

**Synopsis: *The Last Witness*** *"This war did not begin with a nuclear flash swallowing billions into the footnotes of history. History rarely grants us that kind of honesty. It began with secrets stamped NATIONAL SECURITY, with lies folded into origami excuses, and with men who had already sold your future branding the transaction as stability. It began with a population drowning in noise until it mistook confusion for intelligence. And the greatest lesson Liam Roberts would learn was this: people do not fear tyranny for what it is. They fear uncertainty. Tyranny simply learns to disguise itself as relief."* These are the opening words of investigative journalist Liam Roberts' final broadcast As the last witness to civilization's collapse, Roberts explains that the world did not end in a blinding nuclear exchange or a single catastrophic event. Civilizations rarely collapse in fire first. They collapse in ink, paperwork, euphemisms, and administrative language polished clean enough to disguise the smell of decay. Before revealing how the world unraveled, Roberts takes his audience back to where it all began with a phone call from a man named Thomas Riker, a soldier whose existence has been systematically erased from history. Roberts has built his career exposing corruption and uncovering stories others wanted buried, but nothing prepares him for what lies beneath the surface of the modern world. What begins as an investigation into one impossible man quickly becomes a fight for humanity's survival. Riker reveals that behind every major conflict since the Second World War stands the Doctor, the hidden architect of the Syndicate, a clandestine organization that has transformed wars, governments, and human suffering into decades of experimentation in pursuit of a single objective: Project Helix. Following Riker through classified military operations, abandoned facilities, and forgotten programs, Roberts begins to see a pattern stretching across generations. Every trail leads back to Facility 47, where the Doctor's work has evolved beyond biology into something far more dangerous: understanding, predicting, and ultimately directing human behavior itself. With every discovery, Roberts realizes the Syndicate's greatest weapon was never military power. It was its ability to shape what people believed to be true. As the evidence grows, Roberts confronts the Doctor's most devastating discovery: people rarely surrender to force; they surrender to fear, convenience, and the promise of safety. By manipulating information instead of relying on violence, the Syndicate has quietly conditioned entire generations to mistake certainty for truth and security for freedom. By the time Roberts understands that humanity itself has become the experiment, the conditioning is already complete. Unable to remain an observer, Roberts joins a small band of resistance fighters determined to expose the Syndicate before its plan reaches its final stage. As they dismantle hidden facilities and uncover decades of deception, they make a devastating realization. They are no longer trying to stop the Doctor's plan; they are witnessing its completion. Their search ultimately leads them to Bastion Zero, where Roberts learns the Syndicate has already succeeded in ways the world has failed to recognize. The Doctor never intended to rule through armies alone. He intended to build a civilization that would willingly participate in its own conditioning, believing every decision was freely made while every outcome had already been engineered. Riker finally confronts the man who transformed his life into an experiment, while Roberts makes the only choice left to him. Rather than allowing the truth to die with him, he broadcasts it across every remaining frequency, preserving a final record of how humanity surrendered its future one compromise at a time. The novel ends where it began. Alone inside Bastion Zero, Liam Roberts delivers his final message  not in the hope of saving the world, but to ensure that someone, somewhere, might one day understand how it was lost. Whether anyone survives to hear his testimony remains uncertain. The truth, however, endures.

by Austin Bidwell

This autobiographical account follows Austin Bidwell, an ambitious and clever American financier operating in the late 19th century. Driven by greed and the thrill of high-stakes speculation, he and his associates orchestrate a sophisticated forgery scheme that successfully swindles the Bank of England out of millions. Their massive wealth is short-lived as international law enforcement launches a relentless global manhunt to capture them. Bidwell is eventually arrested, convicted, and sentenced to a brutal term in a British prison. The narrative serves as a cautionary tale detailing his criminal exploits, his grueling years behind bars, and his ultimate spiritual reformation.

by Mikaela Love

Marian Michaels spends her nights singing in New Orleans jazz clubs and her days chasing the career she has always wanted. After witnessing a violent attack that appears to target Black residents, she finds herself frustrated by a lack of evidence and official inaction. Unwilling to let the incident go, Marian begins investigating on her own. As more attacks occur across the city, Marian adopts the masked identity of The Butterfly and follows a trail of intimidation, recruitment, and organized violence. What begins as a single assault soon points to a coordinated movement gaining influence in New Orleans. Balancing her growing music career, complicated relationships, and increasingly dangerous investigations, Marian must decide how far she is willing to go to stop it. Set in New Orleans, The Butterfly is a grounded crime drama that blends vigilante fiction, mystery, and noir with the city’s music scene and culture.

by ANDRE WILLIS Sr

This story is about being a square and faced with survival and the hard streets living in Atlanta Ga.

by Gina Murdock

Investigative journalist Mara Reynolds has spent her career uncovering the truth. However, she never expected the biggest lie to be her own life. \ After interviewing billionaire tech entrepreneur Elijah Williams about his groundbreaking project, the Prometheus Initiative, Mara finds herself drawn to his intelligence, charm, and influence. At first, everything seems normal. But soon, disturbing fragments of memory begin to surface—visions of blood, fear, and a childhood event she cannot fully remember. \ As the nightmares grow stronger, Mara turns to therapy for answers. Instead, she uncovers something far more terrifying. The gaps in her memory are not accidents—they are erasures. \ Someone has been rewriting her past. \ As a result, Mara is forced to question everything: her childhood, her relationships, and even the man she is falling for. The deeper she digs, the more dangerous the truth becomes. Because someone has been controlling her memories for over a decade. \ And the man she trusts most may be the one behind it all. Perfect for readers who love: - Psychological thrillers with shocking twists - Stories about memory manipulation and identity - Suspenseful books like The Silent Patient and Gone Girl - Fast-paced thrillers with unreliable truths - Dark secrets, conspiracies, and emotional suspense

by Judah Ray

In 1955, a secret experiment at the Large Hadron Collider tore open a doorway to another realm.\ \ Extradimensional beings came through, possessed the top scientists and military officials in the room, and kept the portal open.\ \ One of the first crossed over and took a human infant as its host. That infant was Christina.\ \ The only issue is that Christina forgot what she was,  and the others could not enter or control her, but she could see them. So they declared her unstable and institutionalized her.\ \ Years later, world leaders, billionaires, media figures, and political dynasties are all possessed. The New World Order is not a conspiracy theory. It is literal possession.\ \ A decade later, Christina escapes and resurfaces in Berlin. The forces that have tracked her since childhood want her reclaimed or eliminated.\ \ With the help of Jory, who has been able to see the entities inside people since surviving a near-death experience as a child, Christina uncovers a power structure that has ruled humanity from within for generations.\ \ When she learns she is one of them, she must choose between her own kind or the man she loves and the humanity she chose to protect.\ \ They have ruled the world from inside us.\ Now one of their own stands against them.